Monthly Meeting: Women in Politics

This month we celebrated fabulous women to mark International Women's Day. Firstly, we said goodbye to our wonderful President Lex. Lex founded Manchester WI and after 6 years of being at the heart of our group, this was her last meeting as President. Thank you to Lex for being an incredible President and for all your hard work.

This year is the centenary of some women being able to vote and so the meeting was dedicated to women and politics. Lex chaired a panel of women who are all involved in politics: Beth Knowles, Mayoral Lead for Homelessness and Rough Sleeping; Kelly Simcock, Councillor for Didsbury East; Julia Williamson and Sarika Paul; Women's Equality Party Manchester Co-Leads.

The panel had a fascinating discussion about the challenges that women in politics face and why women are underrepresented in politics. The panel members also chatted about what drove them to get involved and what it is they'd like to see change in the political sphere in the next few years.

Continuing our theme of fearless females, we were also joined by Helen Antrobus from People's History Museum who spoke about the history of the Suffrage movement, reminding us of the fight it took for women to have their say. With this in mind, we were thrilled to hear from Andrew Simcock an update on the WoManchester Statue Project. After years of fundraising, the woman who led the movement, Emmeline Pankhurst, will finally join the many male statues in Manchester! Enough money has now been raised and she will soon be in St Peter's Square.